MNCORA sent our opposition letter along with opposition letters from the Hennepin County Detention Deputies and three PERA Correctional Plan Retirees. More are coming. At the November 16 meeting of the 911 Telecommunicators Pension Benefit Working Group, the Chair, Darlene Pankonie stated they had gone off the rails by only considering the PERA Correctional Plan as the only option to the General Plan. She said they were tabling the PERA Correctional Plan and would explore other options. While this is good news this is not the time to get complacent. The current Working Group established by SF2485 creating the Working Group came out of SF2198 which sought to "Transfer 911 Telecommunicators from the general plan to the correctional plan." And don't forget Senator Bigham authored both bills. SF2485 states, "The recommended changes may include, but are not limited to moving 911 telecommunicators to the correctional plans." Tabled does not mean gone!

On November 8th MNCORA submitted an opposition letter to the 911 Telecommunicators Pension Benefits Working Group along with a letter from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office signed by 88 CO's opposing adding 911 Dispatchers to the PERA Correctional Pension as well as letters from 3 retirees. There are more letters coming from across the State and will be submitted also. Those letters were added by the LCPR. You can read the letters here under Information from Stakeholders . Thanks to all who submitted letters. We will continue to take more at MNCORA@protonmail.com . This is an ongoing effort. The next meeting of the Working Group is Tuesday November 16th. We will monitor and update.

 Thank you for your service Veterans. Extra thanks to those who went on to serve in a  Corrections Officer's uniform.

On November 8th MNCORA sent the following letter to the entire 911 Telecommunicator Pension Working Group. We did receive a response from  Susan Lenczewski, Executive Director of the LCPR (Pensions and Retirement Commission). MNCORA LETTER November 8, 2021   (via email: chad.burkitt@lcpr.leg.mn )   Chad Burkitt                                                               Legislative Commission on Pensions & Retirement 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Blvd. Room 55, State Office Building St. Paul, MN 55155   RE:  911 Telecommunicators Pension Benefits   Dear Mr. Burkitt,               The Minnesota Correctional Officer Retirement Association (MNCORA) strongly opposes the inclusion of 911 Operators, Dispatchers, and Telecommunicators in the PERA Correctional Plan. The Plan was established separate from all other job classifications because the job is unique among public employees. The inclusion of Dispatchers may deserve a better pension plan than they now have, but they do not

 The 911 Telecommunicators Pension Benefits Working Group meets again on November 9th. The Agenda is out with 2 important Items:  3. ACTION ITEM Preliminary vote: Is it the recommendation of the working group that 911 telecommunicators should receive enhanced pension benefits? (Note: this does not put 911 telecommunicators in a specific plan; that would be discussed under Item #4.) • Darlene Pankonie, Chair  4. DISCUSSION ITEM If the majority vote on Action Item #3 is "Yes": − What enhanced benefits are recommended by the working group? − Should the working group recommend that 911 telecommunicators be moved into a specific plan; i.e., a correctional plan? What can you do? MNCORA is sending a letter stating our opposition to adding the 911 Dispatchers. LELS sent along testimonial letters as stakeholders with their letter from dispatchers wanting in the PERA Correctional Plan.  Correctional Officers are stakeholders of the Correctional Plan they seek to add Dispatchers to. We

The LCPR has posted  Information from Stakeholders  on it's work group site. At this point only one Union bothered to respond to the Working Group's inquiry and that is  LELS ! On first glance it looks like support for adding them, but a close read reveals otherwise. The letter is in favor of enhanced benefits for 911 Dispatchers but NEVER mentions adding them to the PERA Correctional Plan. They then do something very curious. They (LELS) attach 7 testimonial letters allegedly from dispatchers and people in the industry, but there are NO NAMES with the letters! Anyone can write anonymously, even the same person. These letters do support adding 911 Dispatchers to the PERA Correctional Plan. There's also a Workers Comp Claims sheet attached to the LCPR Working Group page.  It shows between 2003 and 2020 Dispatchers had 92 claims and Corrections Officers had 2,610 ! It doesn't show what the claims are for but we all know CO's are subject to assault and disease and dis